Preview
  • The Next Civil War

  • Dispatches from the American Future
  • By: Stephen Marche
  • Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross
  • Length: 7 hrs and 45 mins
  • 3.8 out of 5 stars (473 ratings)

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The Next Civil War

By: Stephen Marche
Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross
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Publisher's summary

“Should be required reading for anyone interested in preserving our 246-year experiment in self-government.” —The New York Times Book Review * “Well researched and eloquently presented.” —The Atlantic * “Delivers Cormac McCarthy-worthy drama; while the nonfictional asides imbue that drama with the authority of documentary.” —The New York Times Book Review

A celebrated journalist takes a fiercely divided America and imagines five chilling scenarios that lead to its collapse, based on in-depth interviews with experts of all kinds.

The United States is coming to an end. The only question is how.

On a small two-lane bridge in a rural county that loathes the federal government, the US Army uses lethal force to end a standoff with hard-right anti-government patriots. Inside an ordinary diner, a disaffected young man with a handgun takes aim at the American president stepping in for an impromptu photo-op, and a bullet splits the hyper-partisan country into violently opposed mourners and revelers. In New York City, a Category 2 hurricane plunges entire neighborhoods underwater and creates millions of refugees overnight—a blow that comes on the heels of a financial crash and years of catastrophic droughts—and tips America over the edge into ruin.

These nightmarish scenarios are just three of the five possibilities most likely to spark devastating chaos in the United States that are brought to life in The Next Civil War, a chilling and deeply researched work of speculative nonfiction. Drawing upon sophisticated predictive models and nearly two hundred interviews with experts—civil war scholars, military leaders, law enforcement officials, secret service agents, agricultural specialists, environmentalists, war historians, and political scientists—journalist Stephen Marche predicts the terrifying future collapse that so many of us do not want to see unfolding in front of our eyes. Marche has spoken with soldiers and counterinsurgency experts about what it would take to control the population of the United States, and the battle plans for the next civil war have already been drawn up. Not by novelists, but by colonels.

No matter your political leaning, most of us can sense that America is barreling toward catastrophe—of one kind or another. Relevant and revelatory, The Next Civil War plainly breaks down the looming threats to America and is a must-read for anyone concerned about the future of its people, its land, and its government.

©2022 Stephen Marche. All rights reserved. (P)2022 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.
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What listeners say about The Next Civil War

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Promising, But Ultimately Falls Short

I enjoyed the "dispatch" approach, but the author hedged his bets. Too much lackluster content takes away from some genuinely good nuggets and scenarios. The author's political bias gets in the way of painting a truly objective set of outcomes.

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1 person found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

First half was better

The first half was much more interesting than the second half. Didn’t care for the segment on climate change.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Interesting point of view from an outsider.

The author is extremely left leaning it seems. He implies Most the problems in the country come from the right and that all republicans are racist our constitution is rubbish. I enjoyed the perspective and outlook from and outsider with different political views as me. And I can also agree with a lot of his options. The book wasn’t bad. I was just hoping for something a little less bias.

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12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A must-read: WAKE UP, AMERICA

Everything is laid out here in unsparing detail: our outdated founding documents, increasingly serving none, our paralyzed government incapable of responsive leadership, and our bitter divisions along every fault line possible. If Americans don't take radical, considered action ASAP we are headed for divorce at best, civil war at worst. And civil war won't be good for anyone; the notion that we can fight and then retreat to our corners and go on living as before is delusion. The author makes his various cases with excellently-sourced data and interviews. From the vile Richard Spencer to fraught climate scientists, the folks interviewed here describe a country we all recognize as damaged yet pretend is "fine". It isn't. Disengage from whatever flavor of partisan corporate media you're into and go talk to someone who doesn't share your politics, economic status, characteristics, or worldview. I'd we don't stop demonizing one another & start working together, we are going to lose our country.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Plausible

There are many reactionary reviews on here from conservatives who don’t like the sober assessment of the problems their rejection of climate change, the pandemic, reason in general are causing. They don’t like having it pointed out that the lions share of the terrorism and extremism is from their camp. I suppose I wouldn’t like that either, but these are facts rather than liberal bias. The book provides some very plausible scenarios, and highlights the original contradictions that made the country prosperous at the expense of its stated high ethical principles. The discussion about splitting the nation into separate countries failed to describe the consequences of doing so. The South will be a “Christian nation” banning abortion, limiting government, guns galore. But “the south” is now spread across the country. As is “the north”. If you split the country, there will be mass migrations. And violence. In any case, this is food for thought, depressing throughout, with an obligatory pinch of hope at the very end.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

American Response to Canadian’s predictions

This is written by a Canadian who asserts that because of his position as a Canadian, outside looking in to America, he is taking the information and painting a picture, to which I would say is a potentially likely future, of America. While, there are disappointments in this book due to bias I do recommend this book overall.

It is noted that throughout the book he provides 4 chapters on catalysts for the devolution of the American state starting with:

(1) a battle between state and federal authorities mimicking the standoffs of the past in America while interviewing military personnel from America’s Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Great insights there.

(2) presidential political assassination caused by the lost individuals of todays society to whom get wrapped up and are easily convinced that violence is the answer despite their own failure to take personnel responsibility. Here’s a surgeons here take on a typical non-American viewpoint on guns I will highlight as a disappointment because he lost his objectivity a bit here.

(3) climate change which could cause greater plagues/ pandemics, Where he highlights a story of the average American in New York City and how a super storm like hurricane Sandy could occur again

(4) massive violence after the devolution of the state prior to the breakup be it peaceful or not. Again it is here where the author points directly to America’s republican party and the right wing for the direct causes despite our past year of left-wing violence as well.

I gave this book 3 stars overall due to the following reasons: (1) The first being the claim to objectivity and his assertion that he is in a moderate position on a political spectrum yet throughout the book it is obvious he leans to the left. (2) secondly it is from that lack of objectivity that he extrapolates faulty foundations of assertions I think the book would have been much better had he tried to interview an American Republican or try to interview a Democrat in each dispatch/chapter prior to publication to check his own bias.

While I know that his lack of objectivity is only a matter of his own humanity and blind spots (maybe the lack of a proper editor to make this a great book), I celebrate this book from the perspective as fascinating and an eye-opening story (hence the 5 stars for story).

I would highly recommend this book to any American as a warning of what could come if the polarized environment continues; however, I would note as well that this book doesn’t provide unique solutions.

The author does provide left-wing and Democrat talking points as truths/solutions to which the author may feel he is being smart sharing but they would only be used to ferret out that his interests are counter to the other half of Americans.

I quote the final Chapter as a great final quote from this book:

“The hope for America is Americans”



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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Filled with inaccuracies and prejudice

Reading through the reviews I thought this book would have a better chance of being a good book. Instead I found myself agitated at the overwhelming emphasis on racial tension, insisting that law enforcement is corrupt with white supremacy and that the US is essentially filled with non stop gun violence.
The author continues to insist the racially motivated alt right will bring about the coming civil war supported by US law enforcement.
The book has potential but the author is off base.

Don’t waste your time on this.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Well Done

The author is a talented storyteller, and his “dispatches“ (as he calls them) are well-written and compelling. His perspective is center left, but not obnoxious to an open-minded conservative. The final section is worth the price of admission for the discussion of secession.

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2 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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A Deep Description

Every portion brought to the mind what America is really all about. The lessons we should have learned are explained in a way that helps us understand where we’ve been and where we are headed. A number of real truths about our country and who we are.

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A thought provoking book

The Next Civil War was an interesting look into what may be. It was thought provoking, and made me challenge some preconceived notions. I just couldn't put it down.

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